Will Airbnb gain popularity on Staten Island?

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Hans and Sandra Penz rent the guest room in their four-bedroom Stapleton Heights home to travelers from all over the world.

"We've had guests from Russia, Alaska and many other places," said Hans Penz.

The Penzs enjoy sharing their home and meeting new people. Hans said he has used the extra income to help build up his Queens-based German pastry business, Keksies.

The Penzs have been marketing their home to travelers -- who chose this option for lodging in lieu of a hotel stay -- for the last three and a half years through Airbnb.

"Most of our American guests stay about two days, but guests from Europe prefer to stay for a week or longer," said Hans. We love to share our home and have people from all over the world come to Staten Island. We show them our favorite places here."

With 32,000 Airbnb hosts in New York City, home sharing has become a cost-effective alternative to hotel stays.

Between June 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016, there were 140 Staten Island-based Airbnb hosts who shared their homes with travelers on at least one occasion, according to Airbnb. With the average nightly rate of $84, Airbnb saw a 54 percent host growth during the study period compared to the previous 12 months.

"We often see an uptick at the time of the New York Marathon," said Peter Schottenfels of Airbnb at a recent editorial board meeting with the Advance.

With the pending revitalization of the North Shore waterfront with the NY Wheel and Empire Outlets, tourism is expected to increase in the borough.

The question is: Will Islanders seek to cash in on the newest tourist attractions and use Airbnb to share their homes?

WHAT IS AIRBNB?

With its name origin in "air mattress" and "bed & breakfast," the idea behind the home rental site is for homeowners to make extra income by renting out anything from a room, to their entire home.

The only stipulations are that the home be a primary residence.

"We are not feeling the recovery (of the housing crisis) of 2008 so hosts think, 'Maybe I can leverage my house to make some extra money'," said Josh Meltzer, who is in charge of public policy for Airbnb.

After more than eight years, Airbnb is in 190 countries, and "tens of thousands of cities," said Meltzer.

There is pending state legislation that could further limit the use of Airbnb in New York. The pending legislation would "prohibit advertising for the use of dwelling units in a class A multiple dwelling," which essentially is an apartment building.

"Those who operate illegal hotels jeopardize the safety and peace of ourneighborhoods. It does not target homeowners like co-op or condo owners orinterfere with their property rights whatsoever," said Lanza in a statement.

"This bill will encourage responsible innovation that respects everyone andsends the message that bad actors won't be tolerated," he added.

Meltzer admits that "platforms like Airbnb can be utilized by less scrupulous operators who have a convenient way to make more money."

"Say you're a landlord of a 16-unit building and you make the calculation that for half of those units you can make more money by constantly renting to short-term travelers than long-term tenants, this could potentially contribute to the housing crisis," said Meltzer.

He said in those cases, Airbnb will remove hosts with multiple listings.

CURRENT LAWS

"The laws that currently exist don't distinguish between that landlord renting multiple units and people on Staten Island who rent out their home when they travel for the weekend," said Meltzer.

With more and more people turning to home sharing to supplement their income, Meltzer said Airbnb wants to work with the government to find a law that would weed out the improper use of home sharing, but still allow others to continue to share their primary residence.

Meltzer noted that Airbnb hosts are responsible for collecting hotel taxes from their guests. He noted that the company has a mechanism on its platform to automatically do that for hosts.